Did I use too little thermal paste? (UPDATE)

Hardware Hub CPU
1

Hello all. First of all here are my specs:

CPU: FX-8350

Mobo: ROG Crosshair V Formula Z

RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury Black (8GB)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

Case: Rosewill Challenger U3

Thermal Paste: Arctic Silver 5

That's what's important.

Anyways, this was my first ever build and so naturally I was nervous mostly about the thermal paste application, and since I had never installed an after market cooler before, I was a little clumsy and it pivoted a few times during installation. I used the pea method to the best of my judgment but I obviously could have put not enough, or the cooler pivoting may have messed it up?

Anyways the thing is, my CPU idles at around 46-48 Celsius. I have no idea if this is normal or not, but I feel like it should be cooler... I know my case is cramped, and horrible but there was nothing I can do about that. The case was so cramped that I had to remove the top 140mm fan because it got in the way of the top motherboard connectors including the CPU power... So the only fans I have are 120mm intake, 120mm back exhaust, and 120mm cpu cooler fan.

The temperature this summer has been around the low to high 80s Fahrenheit, but that didn't seem to affect the idle temp. at all, it always just sits between 46 and 48. 

So is this too high of an idle temp? I am sad because whenever I try to overclock on this glorious motherboard everything is stable but the temp. I hit 4.8GHz in my sleep pretty much and the ONLY problem was the temp soared to 68 during the prime95 test in about 10 seconds so I had to stop it. Even at 4.6GHz it gets too hot too fast.

If it is too high, how can I fix it? I wouldn't have the money for a new case or cooler for quite some time (christmas maayybbee) but even if I could get a new cooler it wouldn't fit in this shit case. Should I try re-installing the cooler and being very careful and precise and probably slightly more generous with my thermal paste application?

Thanks in advance, ~Tas

2

48 degrees in idle is too much.

You can try removing your system from your case, putting the motherboard on the motherboard box (or anything that is made of wood or rubber, something that isn't electrically conductive) and get your temps that way. If you are getting normal idle temps (around 30 degrees and in the 50s or low 60s in prime95), then it's the case.

If you still get high temperatures, then you can try reapplying the thermal paste. Try with more thermal paste, see how that goes, if your temps are still too high, then try with less thermal paste. Trial and error is the key here. Just be careful with the paste so you don't smear it on your motherboard, it's slightly conductive.

My cooler pivoted a few times during installation, but only by something like 30-45 degrees, and I still got the same temps as I got when I installed it without moving at all.

Don't worry too much about repeatedly removing the CPU cooler, I think I removed mine about 10 times in only a week when I bought my computer. Remember NOT to yank it when you remove it, rotate it and move it to the side and gently pull up. If you have too much thermal paste and you yank hard on the cooler you might damage your cpu or cpu socket.

3

It looks like you can mount two 120mm fans oh the side panel as intakes  

and it would be ugly .. but you could mount the top exhaust on the exterior   

But I would not get worried until they get over 70 C

4

Less is usually better. When you say pivoted what do you mean? Did the heatsink lift at all? You should twist it a few times before securing it, this spreads it out a little and gets rid of any air bubbles.

amd-tim-6653410.jpg1600x1200

This is as much as you'd need to use, I've used less than this before and it has still spread out correctly. You can try putting it back on again if you like and see if that helps, also keep in mind that it does take a few on off cycles before the thermal paste cures and becomes it's most efficient. But it shouldn't make that much of a difference.

If you do reseat the heatsink and you haven't done it before, make sure you clean all the old paste off with isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) or acetone, don't use metho or anything which will leave a residue.

5

Do you have room for another fan on the EVO for push pull?

And do not apply too much arctic silver  ... it is conductive and it would short most likely everything

6

That's the problem, they would fly way over 70 if i didn't stop P95. I just like to stop it at about 68. I had it go to 79 once to see if it would but I won't let it do that again.

7

I might be able to get away with push pull on the evo yes

8

Yeah, I built it back in July so the paste should be worn in... I'm not sure if the cooler lifted at all or not, I don't remember; but I wouldn't write it off because it is possible that it lifted when I tried to reposition it.

9

that and a side fan should help ... if not   ... new case time

10

I've tried this process with both of the side panels off before getting the same results. Also tried it with both panels off and a fan blowing over it from across the room to simulate a lower ambient temperature, but still had the same sky high temps in no time. At stock clock I seem to be mostly fine, I can render video at ~70-80% CPU usage and the temp stops around 55 Celsius because at 53 my fans go to 100%, well the evo's fan does, the others are 3 pin so 100% constantly

11

my brother had the same temps once and when i took it apart i noticed he forgot to peal off the protective sticker off the top .. in his defense I couldn't even see it until i held it to the light  . this was an intel chip though - but im guessing amd would do the same thing 

12

The side panel fans would  be only a temporary fix because eventually the graphics card I'm going to get will block the lower one, and the EVO heat sync already blocks the higher one. I could do the lower on for now because I'm stuck with an old low profile gpu until around tax return time because we simply don't have the money. 

The problem with upper 140mm as exhaust is that I don't believe the cord will fit back into the case and all the way to a header, but I could try.

On top of that, is there any good budget cases that have good airflow, room, and cable management options? I would have to ask for it for christmas.. the highest price I could get away with is maybe $100 USD if I'm lucky..

There's also the fact that I'm nervous to rebuild it in another case because the first build was the most stressful thing ever and I'm so afraid I would break something because if it happens then voila, we don't have a computer in the house anymore and have no way to replace the part unless we saved up for 2 or 3 months lol

13

I'm assuming you're talking about a sticker on the actual chip itself. I'm almost certain there wasn't one, and I've actually never heard of that being a thing in the countless tutorials, how-to's, and just general info videos I've watched. If there was one then it was smaller than the border of the chips heat sync, and it's borders were as clear as the rest of the sticker because I sat there and admired that thing for a good few minutes and all I saw was nice shiny metal lol.

14

yeah a very thin plastic coating to protect from scratches ... like on the glass of your phone when you unboxed it

usually on the heat sink

15

Does anyone have a picture of what this might look like? I couldn't find any references to it online at all..

16

So as I said earlier, I'm fine with like 70 to 80% lead on the cpu temps at stock clock, but I just tried Prime95 on stock clock and it still went to over 65 Celsius and was slowly rising until I stopped it.. Also, today is a rather cold day, it's maybe 65 Fahrenheit in my room right now because we don't have our heater turned on.

17

Like ratz said there like clear protective stickers on phones ... If you starred at it for a while there might not have been one.  just something to think about if you decide to reset the the thing.. Been buildin computers and servers for a while now and I don't understand why they never put a logo on the sticker its always clear 

18

UPDATE:

So I just re-did the thermal paste. I was going to mount the top 140mm on the outside but the screws only go in one way so I would have to put it as a pull fan, and that would screw things up. Anyways, before redoing the paste, with my CPU overclocked to 4.8GHz it would idle at 50-51 Celsius. When running P95 it would hit 65 C in about 15 seconds.

After thermal paste redo Cpu still at 4.8GHz: Idles at 41-42 Celsius (cooler than it's previous stock clock idle temp.) And takes 40 seconds of prime95 testing to hit 65 C, and 60 seconds exactly to hit 70 C, but I know it would still keep going. 

Anyways, I feel like I have made some progress, and I may keep this overclock seeing as nothing I've done so far including rendering can put 100% load on this processor. 

Is there anything else I can do? I will most definetly get a second 120mm for EVO push pull, and in the end I may say f*** it and ask for a new case for christmas anyways, but any new advice can always help!

Oh and P.s, there definetly was no plastic sticker on the chip.

19

I have a FX 8350 clocked at 4.2 Ghz cooled by a cheap little AIO. It sits at 16c idle and peeks at 62c in prime 95. I am wondering if the TIM between the CPU die and heat spreader is not the best causing high temps.

20

Glad to hear no film and that reapplying thermal paste helped a little.

I completely miss in the OP the fact that you had a constant OC @4.8Ghz..

I usually do not recommend anything but minimal overclocks using a CM EVO 212.... more aggressive OCs require more aggressive cooling solutions.

An FX8350 overclocked to 4.8GHz with a CM EVO 212 in a case with poor air flow is not an ideal situation  ... I would recommend you lower the OC until you get things sorted ... or you may damage the MB and CPU.